UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Halfway through a round of golf at the Penn State Golf Courses, dark clouds gather in the distance. In a few minutes, the sky could unleash soaking rain, dangerous lightning or perhaps nothing at all. But thanks to technology developed by Edward Mansouri, a Penn State alumnus, golfers will receive new and improved weather alerts from course officials.
Mansouri, a graduate of Penn State’s meteorology and geo-environmental engineering (now known as energy engineering) programs, understands that accurate, reliable forecasts could be the difference between golfers being caught on the course during a severe thunderstorm or waiting out a storm in the safety of the clubhouse. That’s why he recently installed a weather station at the courses with the help of a company he founded called WeatherSTEM.
Headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, WeatherSTEM is a company that infuses live data collected by weather instruments, cloud cameras, agricultural probes and other sensors into K-12 STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) curriculum.
The weather stations collect data such as temperature, wind and relative humidity, which can be accessed by the public through WeatherSTEM’s online website or mobile app.
WeatherSTEM has already installed weather stations at five local locations: Beaver Stadium; The Arboretum at Penn State; Pasto Agricultural Museum, located at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center in Rock Springs; Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center in Huntingdon County; and Park Forest Elementary School in State College.
Importance of golfer safety
The new weather station, located on top of the Walker Clubhouse, will play a critical role in ensuring public safety, which is just as important on the golf course as it is at the University’s outdoor athletic events.